Unfaithful
by munchkineater
Summary: Skypaw is constantly being pushed to her limits by her mentor. As this happens, she begins to dabble in the fine art of breaking the Warrior Code, unknowing of the consequences it could bring. Third warrior challenge for DarkClan, courtesy of jayfeather12345! R&R&E (the E stands for enjoy :) )


**Third warrior challenge of DarkClan! This one-shot I'm sort of dedicating to a person who recently left Fanfiction, kawaii-nyan-kitty :) Okay, so the theme is _an apprentice who is never forced out of their comfort zone is more likely to stick to the Warrior Code, and an apprentice who is constantly pushing their boundaries is more likely to break the rules_ ****so read and tell me if it came across clearly!**

"Skypaw! What's wrong with you?" Blackbriar growled, cuffing her harshly over the ears. The pale gray apprentice cowered under him, murmuring apologies. "Again."

She crouched low, then leaped over Blackbriar's head, keeping her eyes trained on his back, then missing by a tail-length. She whipped around and swept his legs out from under him, leaving him barely any time to realize what had happened. She paused for a moment to catch her breath, only to be pinned down by her mentor.

"I told you before. An enemy won't give you time to catch your breath or pause. You have to finish the move! No hesitations!" Blackbriar lectured, voice rising at the end. Skypaw averted her eyes, staring at the ground. She tuned out Blackbriar's 'you're useless' speech, and listened in on where Russetpaw was being praised.

"Good job, Russetpaw!" Turtlesplash, the deputy, purred. "That jump was amazing, but maybe next time, don't hesitate to pin me after you've downed me." The way the tortoiseshell mentored Russetpaw was so much more caring and compassionate than the way Blackbriar did. _I wonder if his heart is as black as his pelt,_ Skypaw mused.

"Skypaw! Are you even listening?" Blackbriar growled, black fur bristling in annoyance. His amber eyes glared coldly at Skypaw.

"No, I'm not!" Skypaw snapped, fed up with her mentor. "I don't need to hear your endless criticism _every single day_. I'm sick of it! You know when I do it right, _good_ even, but you never open your mouth to say anything more than 'fix this' and 'that was sloppy'. I am _done._" She stomped off back towards where the camp was. In the clearing, Heatherpaw was playing with Barleykit and Poppykit, while Kestrelkit and Patchkit ate a mouse together.

Realizing that Blackbriar could follow her to the apprentice's den, she sneaked out of camp through an opening in between the cliff wall and the trees. She ran and ran, for as long as she could until she reached the border. Smelling the ShadowClan scent markers, an overwhelming curiosity took hold of her.

_If I just took a short look through ShadowClan territory... that can't be breaking the code,_ she thought. She lifted a paw and carefully placed it over the border. She took three more steps, then paused to look around. Disappointment weighed heavily on her shoulders. _This is no different from ThunderClan territory_, she thought, scuffing the ground with her feet. She dejectedly turned back around, ready to cross back over to her own side of the border. A pair of glowing green eyes met hers, red muzzle a whisker-length from hers.

"What are you _doing_, Skypaw?" Russetpaw asked, shock penetrating his usually calm voice. Skypaw moved her jaw, trying to form a coherent phrase.

"I... I... Well what does it mean to you?" she hissed, unsheathing her claws. Russetpaw flinched, but stood his ground.

"I just would like to know _why in the name of StarClan_ you're doing on ShadowClan's territory. Imagine what could happen!" he scolded. _Always a suck-up to the code_, Skypaw mused. She tilted her chin up, and walked past Russetpaw onto her own territory.

"I'm not doing anything on ShadowClan's territory. I'm clearly on ThunderClan grass," Skypaw announced. She trotted ahead of Russetpaw, leaving the ginger tom standing behind her, stunned.

* * *

Skypaw padded slowly through the forest, limping slightly on her right front leg. She had wrenched it in training when Blackbriar had pushed her too far. The muffled sounds of the forest soothed her, the gentle wind cooling her down. She reached the ShadowClan border, looking for any sign of another presence.

"You came," a low voice said. The voice was followed by a massive red tom, who padded out of the bushes on the ShadowClan side.

"Redfern!" Skypaw purred, crossing the border without hesitation to nuzzle the tom. Redfern purred as well, licking the gray she-cat's cheek. _I've done this enough times and nobody's said anything about it. It can't be against the warrior code, because I love him,_ Skypaw thought. "I think I passed my warrior assessment!"

"That's wonderful, Skypaw," another voice icily commented. "Now why does that concern ShadowClan?"

"Russetclaw!" Skypaw exclaimed, whipping around to face the newly-made warrior. Turtlesplash had deemed him ready a half-moon earlier, despite the fact that he only knew half the battle moves Skypaw had learned. Turtlesplash had never pushed Russetclaw the way Blackbriar pushed Skypaw. "What are you doing here?"

Behind Skypaw, Redfern growled menacingly. "I could ask you the same thing," Russetclaw snarled, unsheathing his claws. "Skypaw, get over here. _Now_." Dejectedly, the gray apprentice padded over to where Russetclaw stood. Redfern continued to growl, as he walked away from Skypaw.

"I can't believe you would do that, Russetclaw!" Skypaw fumed, pelt bristling.

"I can't believe you would blatantly disobey the warrior code! I don't care how hard Blackbriar is on you, it's no reason to go meeting with a cat from another Clan!" Russetclaw scolded.

"Well you wouldn't get it! Turtlesplash was always so _easy_ on you, you wouldn't feel that need to do something _wrong_. And it's not like you're not friends with cats from other Clans!"

"Key word-_friends._ Just friends," Russetclaw admonished.

"And that's what me and Redfern are! _Just friends_," Skypaw exclaimed, lashing her tail.

"Both you and I know that's a lie, Skypaw."

* * *

{Flash forward}

"Aren't they just beautiful?" Skyblaze purred, licking the top of a red tom's head. She looked up at a ginger tom. "What do think for names?"

He purred, nosing two silver she-kits. "Hailkit and Rainkit for these two?" Skyblaze nodded, nuzzling the ginger tom and the last gray tom.

"Thunderkit and Shadowkit."

**Hey guys! The ending is meant for you to decide... are the kits Russetclaw's or Redfern's? This one-shot sort of relates to two of my previous one-shots, Beautiful Mess and Loving Hate, so if you liked this one, you could read those! I encourage you guys to review them all, it helps improve my writing :)**

Keep your pens at the ready and keep writing!  
~Munchie


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